Sneaky's Daily Did You Know....? - Remarkable Reptiles and Amazing Amphibians

The female common toad sometimes suffocates under the sheer weight of lovers. Since there is always a shortage of femailes, the male desperately clings on to her back and may be carried around for several days before the eggs are laid. In the meantime, he has to fend off rival males eager to dislodge him. If a male is dislodged, others frantically climb onto the female, forming towers of up to tem toads. Even if the female does suffocate under this load, the males still hang on for a number of days while her body decomposes beneath them.